Work travel doesn’t have to be boring. If you’re smart about it, your trip could include anything from robot bellhops to massaging toilets or beds tucked into Tesla trunks.
Here’s a look at 25 hotels from around the world that offer guests cutting-edge perks.
The rooms are called cabins. The reception desk is called mission control. The robot that helps store your luggage is called Yobot. Click here for more info and reservations.
“To check in,” this curiosity known as the Weird Hotel instructs, “please follow the robot’s instructions.” And, no fooling, the front desk is staffed by multilingual automatons, including a couple that look like (why not?) dinosaurs. Click here for more info and reservations.
Okay, so, yes, the premium high-tech rooms are a bit behind on gaming (they offer PlayStation 3), but are on top of other cool twists. The rooms rotate 35 degrees twice a day, giving guests a new point of view. Click here for more info and reservations.
At this Washington, D.C.-area hotel, you can meet and greet Connie, billed as the first hospitality robot informed with IBM Watson technology. No mere gimmick, Connie can tell you everything from where to find a good meal to what time check-out is. Click here for more info and reservations.
The Time Capsule calls itself the “world’s compact hotel,” but what it lacks in space it makes up for in awesomeness. Its “technology capsules” feature free Wi-Fi, a built-in smart TV and, for comfort, 300 thread-count bed sheets. Plus, they just look cool. Click here for more info and reservations.
In the heart of Apple country, you’ll find A.L.O. (pronounced “el-oh”). The robotic butler–or “Botlr” for short–looks sharp, delivers towels to your door, and works for tweets (#MeetBotlr). If that’s not enough, every room has Apple TV. Click here for more info and reservations.
The star of this 190-room boutique hotel is the Cloud Nine Suite. The opulent room comes complete with luxury linens and an iris-scanning entry system that was installed for former President Bill Clinton’s 2004 stay. Click here for more info and reservations.
There are actually three Hub hotels in London (with a fourth on its way in 2017). At each one, you’ll sleep in a nearly all-white space pod, featuring touch-screen headboards, like it’s 2001. Click here for more info and reservations.
This place is as cool as the 1960s New Wave film that inspired it (Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up). There’s no front desk, man. No room numbers, either. You’re handed an iPhone, and you figure it out. The adventure begins! For more info and reservations click here.
Called the “most high-tech hotel in Australia,” the Next Hotel Brisbane offers weary business travelers complimentary “sleep pods”: space-age-looking recliners that allow you to recharge your batteries, metaphorically and literally. Click here for more info and reservations.
Never underestimate Big Sky Country. Like other facilities from the Aloft, W, and Element brands, this hotel offers keyless entry via a smartphone app (an Apple Watch will work, too). You must be a Starwood Preferred Guest member to use. Click here for more info and reservations.
Behind the 19th-century facade lies a 21st-century experience. You’ll find an iPad2 and a smartphone in your room, and so-called smart-glass walls in your shower. Just touch a button, and those walls go from clear to opaque. Click here for more info and reservations.
This downtown hotel boasts “lightning-fast” fiber-optic internet and body-heat sensors that detect when you’re in the room (and presumably in no rush to see the towel cart) and when you’re out. Click here for more info and reservations.
The Linq is one of Caesars Entertainment Corporation’s Vegas venues, including the Flamingo and Caesars Palace, that offer self check-in kiosks. You can start the check-in process before you even arrive, and be kept apprised of your room’s status via your smartphone. Click here for more info and reservations.
For the New York Times, this renovated, luxury high-rise’s killer app is the toilet–make that, the high-tech Toto toilet that massages and dries at the touch of several buttons. Click here for more info and reservations.
When others shunned Google Glass wearers, Stanford Court’s bar offered free cocktails. This high-tech mecca continues to pour it on with MacBooks, iPads, and iPad minis, all at your disposal in the lobby. Click here for more info and reservations.
Calling the Tesla Hotel a hotel is a stretch, but you can fold down the seats on Steve Sasman’s 2013 Tesla Model S, roll out the air mattress and, as the D.I.Y.-er promises, “sleep like a baby who just struck the technology jackpot.” Or you can just rent it for a drive. Click here for more info.
This boutique hotel’s modular “sleeping units” will have you feeling like you’re bunking on the Enterprise, and its complimentary mobile hotspots will keep you connected wherever you go. Click here for more info and reservations.
Your room is all about the so-called MoodPad. Everything from the TV to the window blinds are controlled by the touch of your finger via the tablet device. Click here for more info and reservations.
Built in 1928, the Peninsula bills itself as Hong Kong’s oldest hotel. Don’t worry, there’s nothing stodgy about the desk tablets available in all rooms and suites–they put everything from the air temperature to hotel staff at your fingertips. Click here for more info and reservations.
Yahoo has promised that this 400+ room hotel “will blow your mind.” Sure, the “Superior High Tech Room” comes with Ultra HD TV, but nothing tops the conference room that can make your presentation a 3-D holographic trip. Click here for more info and reservations.
If you manage to leave the all-white environs of your designer room–with its eco-friendly, “smart” air-conditioning–for the inviting beach, you’ll happily discover that you’re still in Wi-Fi range. Click here for more info and reservations.
The French boutique chain has expanded to the West Coast with what the New York Post calls “the coolest new hotel in Los Angeles.” All rooms are equipped with Skype, Apple AirPlay, and iMacs. Click here for more info and reservations.
When you go to Vegas, you want a show; when you stay at the Aria, you get one. Your smart room acknowledges your inaugural arrival by turning on the lights, parting the curtains, and turning on the TV to guest services. Aria’s sister hotel, the Mandarin Oriental, features the same technology. Click here for more info and reservations for the Aria Resort.
You can charge your electric car at a complimentary charging station. Or, should you find yourself Tesla-free, you can get a ride in one of the hotel’s own Teslas, also complimentary (within a three-mile radius). Click here for more info and reservations.
Also see: Hex on the beach: Get ready for the robot bartenders and How Pepper the robot will become newest crew member of Costa Cruise Line
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